Richard George Fariña (March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) was an American folksinger, songwriter, poet, and novelist. With an Irish mother and a Cuban father, Fariña was born a rebel. He grew up in Brooklyn, pre-revolutionary Cuba, and Ireland. At 18, he was associated with members of the IRA and was asked to leave Ireland.

At Cornell University in the late fifties, Fariña was suspended for his part in a student protest, but was promptly reinstated when fellow students threatened to take further action to support him. Leaving Cornell in 1959, he lived in Paris and London, surviving by "music, street-singing, scriptwriting, acting, a little smuggling, anything to hang on."

In 1963, he returned to America and married Mimi Baez, sister of Joan Baez, and they became a folk duo. Their debut album was highly recommended and marked the beginning of a promising career that was tragically cut short.